AMIA bombing relatives updated on Iran negotiations

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman met with the relatives of victims of the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing to update them on negotiations with Iran.

The update came three months after Timerman’s first public meeting with his Iranian counterpart.

“The only business that we have in this case is for Iran to deliver the accused to justice. There isn’t any other interest. The government and the relatives are on the same path, which is to find those responsible [for the attack] and obtain an Argentine judiciary sentence against them,” Timerman told journalists after the meeting. He also said that the Argentinean Congress will be asked to approve the final result of the negotiations.

Timerman, who is Jewish, on Wednesday visited the rebuilt AMIA headquarters, the Jewish community center of Buenos Aires, to meet with the relatives of the AMIA attack victims.

Relatives of the victims who participated in the meeting told JTA that they were pleased to have received an update from Timerman. The possibility of a trial in a third country was not mentioned by the foreign minister.

Timerman met for first time with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, on Sept. 27 at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss the 1994 AMIA bombing case. The attack on the Jewish community’s main complex in Buenos Aires killed 85 and wounded hundreds.

Iran is accused of directing the bombing that allegedly was carried out by the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah.

Tehran in a July 16, 2011 statement said it was willing to hold “constructive dialogue” with Argentina to “shed all possible light” on the case. It offered condolences to the victims’ families while denying responsibility for the blast.

In October 2010, Iran rejected Argentina’s proposal to put its accused citizens on trial in a neutral country.